U.S. denounces 'nuclear blackmail' as Iran plans to breach uranium limit

Iran announced on Monday it would soon breach limits on the amount of enriched uranium it can stockpile under a 2015 international agreement, in a new point of contention with the United States, which accused Tehran of “nuclear blackmail.”

Donald Trump announced Washington was withdrawing from the nuclear deal. Fears of a confrontation increased last week when oil tankers in the Gulf were attacked.

The accord, which Iran and the other signatories have maintained following Trump’s decision, caps Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium at 300 kg enriched to 3.67 percent.

But Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Monday: “We have quadrupled the rate of enrichment (of uranium) and even increased it more recently, so that in 10 days it will bypass the 300 kg limit.”

“Iran’s reserves are every day increasing at a more rapid rate,” he told state TV, adding that “the move will be reversed once other parties fulfil their commitments.”

The move further undermines the nuclear pact also signed by Russia, Britain, Germany, China and the European Union, but Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the collapse of the deal would not be in the interests of the region or the world.

A White House National Security Council spokesman said Iran’s plan amounted to “nuclear blackmail” and must be met with increased international pressure.

The nuclear deal seeks to head off any pathway to an Iranian nuclear bomb in return for the removal of most international sanctions.

Britain said if Iran breached agreed limits then London would look at “all options.”

Israel, Iran’s arch foe, urged world powers to step up sanctions against Tehran swiftly should it exceed the enriched uranium limit.

However, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the EU would only react to any breach if the International Atomic Energy Agency formally identified one.